Over the past two days, three bodies — two men and one woman — have been found and recovered from the water off the coast of Alicante. None of the victims have yet been identified, and their remains are being examined at the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Alicante. According to law enforcement, the bodies were in varying stages of decomposition, which may indicate different periods spent in the sea.
The first man’s body was found on the morning of May 29 off the coast of El Campello, about 15 kilometers north of Alicante. The next day, May 30, another man — reportedly a minor — was discovered in the Cabo de las Huertas area. A few hours later, near Tabarca Island, 12 nautical miles south of the city, rescuers retrieved a woman’s body from the water.
Investigative theories
The Police and Civil Guard are considering several possible explanations. One is that the victims died as a result of one or more boats carrying migrants from Africa sinking. The varying degrees of decomposition may indicate that the deceased were in the water for different amounts of time and may have ended up at sea after separate incidents.
Spain’s southeastern coast, including the stretch between Almería and Valencia as well as the Balearic Islands, is traditionally one of the main routes for migrant boats coming from Algeria and other North African countries. According to police, most of these boats carry people from countries south of the Sahara.
Links to other incidents
Investigators do not rule out that some of the bodies found may be related to the tragedy that occurred on April 20 off the coast of Cartagena (Murcia). At that time, two survivors and three deceased were found on board a boat that had presumably departed from Algeria, and later, five more bodies washed up at Cabo de Palos. Preliminary data suggests there could have been up to 13 people on the vessel, and some of the victims could have ended up in the waters off Alicante. However, at this point, no direct link between these cases has been established.
Fatalities among migrants in the western Mediterranean occur regularly, despite relatively calm weather conditions compared to the Atlantic. In March, a court in Alicante sentenced a man who piloted a boat on which five people died, four of them migrants, to eight years in prison. Their bodies were thrown overboard, and another victim remained on the vessel until it was rescued off the coast of Xàbia. This case became the subject of a separate investigation and legal proceedings.
Context and investigation
Police continue to work on identifying the deceased and determining the circumstances of their deaths. Investigators do not rule out that these are separate incidents, as the bodies were found in different places and at different times. Questions regarding the coordination of emergency services and informing transport companies in such situations remain relevant — earlier, the region discussed the issue of lacking timely warnings, as was the case with the disaster in Valencia.
